NFL notebook: Lions defensive tackle suspended for 6 games

ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Detroit Lions defensive tackle Khyri Thornton has been suspended for the first six games of the 2017 season for violating the NFL’s substance-abuse policy.

Thornton can return to the active roster on Oct. 16, at the start of a bye week, and will be eligible to play Oct. 29 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. He is permitted to practice with the Lions during training camp and is eligible to play in preseason games.

The 6-foot-3, 315-pound Thornton has played in 19 games the previous two seasons with the Lions, starting six games last season. He seemed to be headed for a backup role this season behind defensive tackles Haloti Ngata and A’Shawn Robinson.

JETS: New York signed former Chicago Bears wide receiver Marquess Wilson.

Eric Decker and Brandon Marshall were cut this offseason in cost-saving moves, leaving Quincy Enunwa as the Jets’ No. 1 receiver in front of several inexperienced players such as Robby Anderson and Charone Peake.

Wilson was a seventh-round draft pick of the Bears out of Washington State in 2013. He set the Cougars’ record with 3,207 yards receiving from 2000-12.

With the Bears, Wilson had 56 catches for 777 yards and three touchdowns. He played in three games last season because he broke his left foot, landing him on injured reserve. Wilson’s best season was in 2015, when he caught 28 passes for 464 yards and a TD.

Hall of FamE player Warren Sapp announced he’s starting to suffer the effects of the many hits he took during his long football career and he’s donating his brain for concussion research.

Sapp said in a story and video posted on The Players Tribune that he hopes his decision will help the game get better. “And that’s the reason I’m donating my brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation,” he said in the video.

“It’s scary to think that my brain could be deteriorating, and that maybe things like forgetting a grocery list, or how to get to a friend’s house I’ve been to a thousand times are just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

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